Warning...it is a novel

Wow! Time flies!!! I don't think there is any way to catch up on everything, but I will do my best.

At this point Kaia's word count is around 250 between her signs and her spoken words. She is able to communicate so much more than the other kids that we play with. Music is also a huge influence in her life. If she isn't asking for her music to be played on the CD player or Ipod she is asking us to sing. She doesn't just ask me to sign, but she will actually ask for a list of songs all in a row. Some of her favorites include Old McDonald (I think I sang it at least ten times today), Itsy Bitsy Spider (she also runs to our porch windows multiple times a day looking for the spiders that had taken up residence), ABCs, Where oh Where has my little dog gone, How Much is that Doggie in the Window, The Bear Went Over the Mountain and 5 Little Ducks. She will also run up to the CD player and say and sign music followed by saying, "Mommy dance". I pick her up and we dance together. I can't imagine what it looks like from the outside of our house with all of the blinds up, but we have fun. She has also started to make her stuffed animals dance lately too. She also knows the order of songs and will anticipate the next song as well as say words before they are about to be sung.

Kaia has also entered another Mommy phase, not that she ever stopped. I can say that I love all of the hugs, kisses and cuddles I get. She will ask for Bryn during the day and then when I tell her daddy is at work she remembers and says, "Bye, bye Daddy mah (the verbal kiss)".

The weather here has been beautiful lately so we are trying to get outside as much as we can. Kaia is still taking two naps so we have a limited window that we can get out for. We love that she is sleeping through the night and that we can lay her down sleepy, but the price is that she doesn't sleep well in the car seat or stroller anymore. So I have been missing out on my 3 hour walks around Newport. She will get up and we will eat and take a 10 minute walk to the park, play for a bit and then head home ready for the next nap.

Since we don't live near family we have a whole wall of pictures of various family and friends with Kaia. We talk about everybody and now she can identify just about everyone on the wall. Sometimes she will initiate the interaction and other times we ask her where various people are. She will give kisses and share her snacks with everyone.

We have been in the swing of our Kaia activities for awhile now. We are doing a gym class at the YMCA that she loves, music class with Mr. Christopher and our regular playgroup. We try to meet up with friends too and go to some library story hours. It is amazing to watch her recognize people. There is a girl about a month younger than Kaia that is in our playgroup and the YMCA class. Her name is Bailey. We were out the other day and Kaia recognized her stroller or her mom and started saying, "B, B". She couldn't see Bailey, but she knew that was her. We can be driving to the YMCA and I tell her we are going to see Bailey and she gets so excited and starts saying her name.

Newport has been great for us and Kaia and I have met some great moms and kids. It is going to be sad to go. I feel like we have finally found our groove. It is a small enough town that I was walking down the street with Kaia the other day and someone drove by and called to me out their car window. I am going to miss our friends and life here.

So that leads to the next part, we are leaving for house hunting next week. We are driving down to MD for a few days to find a place to live. So in a little over a week we will have our next address. It is crazy how fast time is going. I have so many last appointments here to fit in before the movers come.

Speaking of appointments, Kaia had her 15 month appointment and she is a lanky girl. She only gained one pound in 3 months. The Dr isn't concerned and obviously her development is off the charts. She has lengthened out, but now we are having a hard time finding pants that will fit her in the waist. We are buying stock in the adjustable waistband companies.

Bryn's mom came to visit for about a week and just left on Wednesday. Kaia was very excited to hang out with Grandma. Grandma was pretty excited too! We went on a hay ride, walked around town, went apple and pumpkin picking. I also picked up Halloween decorations that are at Kaia's level so we can talk about them. Grandma did all of the sewing that I don't know how to do and altered Kaia's Halloween costume (a 50's poodle skirt outfit). Grandma also got over 24 hours of straight Kaia time while Bryn and I went away together overnight for the first time since she was born. That was a huge anniversary present for us!!! We have a sitter coming over for our anniversary this week, but getting away just the two of us was a great thing. We made a pact to take a long weekend once a year just the two of us. We are hoping for more, but we will do at least that.

It is so hard to catch you up with everything she is doing because there are multiple new things every day. She is also a little monkey and is trying to climb everything. She watches older kids at the playground and tries to do what they do, plus she tries to scale things at home that she isn't suppose to.

Hope you enjoyed the novel:) I am off to bed.